I'm Back with an Announcement!

It's been quiet around here... can you hear the crickets chirping?

From my last post, you know that I'd been having a hard year. Well it turns out that something else was in play besides just a difficult caseload.....

PREGNANCY HORMONES!!!!

Yep! My first trimester was not filled with morning sickness... it was filled with CRANKINESS! Even though we're thrilled about baby, those first few months I was in a terrible mood (especially at school!).

I'm at six months now and feeling great! I'm starting to get the nesting urge... :)

During these last few months as I've taken a prolonged absence from this blog, I've developed other interests. I've found it's much more fun to blog about my crafting life than my teaching life.

I'm so glad I wrote so much during these last five or six years of teaching - I never want to forget those memories (or all of you bloggy friends I've made along the way)! I'll be returning to the classroom once the baby is born, but in a part-time capacity. In the meantime, I'm having so much fun blogging over at my other blog: Yes Teacher Crafts.

I'd love to have you join me there!

taking a bow

There's nothing like a pat on the back once in a while! The fabulous Renee from Closed on Sunday has given me an award! And I didn't have to bribe her or anything!

So I think this means that I'm a versatile blogger, which is just a  really nice way of saying that I can't stay focused on just one topic. Yay for variety!

Okay. Like any good blog award, there are strings attached. I must...

A. Thank the person who gave me the award

Thanks, Renee! If you haven't checked out Closed on Sunday yet, you totally should. She'll regale you with tales of cupcakes gone wrong!

B. Share seven things about myself

1. I have three cats. If I lived alone and didn't have my husband to keep me in check, I'd have about three dozen cats. I guess this means I'm that crazy cat lady on the inside.

2. I drink black tea every morning. I used to drink coffee, but I was making it so strong that it was starting to give me headaches. And what's the point of drinking coffee if it doesn't look like mud?

3. I think regret is the worst feeling in the world, because there's absolutely nothing you can do to make it better.

4. I've thrown a tantrum or two in my classroom (once the kids were gone and the door was shut).

5. I've always wanted to host a murder mystery dinner party. I've been to a couple, and they were so fun!

6. My second grade teacher slapped me in the face once because I corrected my work in pencil instead of black pen (this was in France, though, so perfectly legal). It was our first year in France, and I still remember my dad chewing out my teacher in his broken French. I think the worst insult he came up with was: "YOU MEAN LITTLE OLD LADY!"

7. When I was in high school, I refused to stay home from school when I felt sick. Unless I was throwing up, I'd go. My parents would urge me to stay in bed, but I wouldn't. I was too afraid on missing out on something very cool or important!


C. Pass the award onto 15 other bloggers

FIFTEEN?? Really?! This teacher is too busy for fifteen. Let's just bend the rules a little.... Since I did seven things about me, I'll pass this award on to seven other bloggers. And if you'd like to grab this award for yourself, too, I won't stop you!

So here they are:

Yesterday on Tuesday

Ginger Snaps

My Camo Colored Life

Katie's Journey

Soaking up the Sunnyside of Life

Coming Clean: confessions of an imperfect parent

Underground Teacher

I'd love to read your "seven things about me"! If you have such a post, please link up in the comments :)

Tootin' my own horn

This goes against everything I was taught (don't brag, stop showing off, don't draw attention to yourself, there's always going to be someone out there who's better than you). But today I throw caution to the wind! Upbringing be darned!

I'm here to convince you that I belong on The A List. First of all, I've been blogging since 2006 .... which makes me Time's Person of the Year for 2006. So... that's gotta count for something right?

Secondly, and most importantly, I blog about my adventures and misadventures in the classroom. This makes for some hilarious and heart-wrenching reading! Like the time when a parent asked a teacher if they could babysit for them too. Or when a student revealed her mommy's secret. Or when one of my students gave me the bad news about my future. Or my frustration over being taxed in my own school!

So if you're a student, a teacher, or a parent (or if you've ever set foot in a classroom), you're sure to find something to please you, amuse you, or anger you on this here blog. Come along and enjoy the ride!

Featuring...

I've been featured at the latest Carnival of Educators! There are lots of other great posts by some great teachers.

Go check it out!

Gold Star

I happened to catch this secret on PostSecret the other day (from the website: PostSecret is an ongoing community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a postcard).

Did you ever get stickers on your work when you were young? I vaguely remember receiving some. I know my fourth graders still love getting them (they're not stars though, they're Spongebob and Batman and other commercial heroes!).

Star stickers represent work well done. How often do we commend our students for their good work? How specific are we with our praise? "Good job" means a lot less than "I'm so proud of you for remembering all of your capitals and periods!"

And as we grow into adulthood, accolades seem to fade altogether. They'll come in the form of "employee of the month" or a small raise, or something. But I think we're all kids at heart, and we all like to be recognized for work well done. I know I feel good about myself when another teacher asks to borrow an idea I've had or some materials I've created.

And I certainly felt good about myself when Melissa of Me:Daily passed on this nice award to me this morning!


I'm blushing.

But nothing in life is free, and there are rules for this award! I'm going to share ten things about me, and then spread the love onto three other bloggers. Ready? Let's play.

1. I've never had highlights in my hair. I've always wanted to do it, but at the heart of me, I'm just too cheap.
2. Someday I'm going to write a novel (and you can't stop me!)
3. I have a serious addiction to ice cream.
4. I've eaten the same school lunch for two and a half years (recipe here). Yes, I still enjoy it!
5. I think it would be great fun to be a school librarian.
6. I thought Chicago was in northern California until I was in tenth grade.
7. I tend to lose Scrabble games because I'm too preoccupied with finding the most creative word instead of getting points.
8. I once held a rhinoceros beetle on my arm when we were in Costa Rica.
9. I'm fluent in French (for all the good it does me with my students' Spanish speaking parents...)
10. I was nineteen years old when I learned that gas isn't actually sold in the gas cans. Who knew?

And now I'm passing on the torch to these three lovely bloggers:

Momma May Be Mad: I'm so glad I found her! I love reading her honest and insightful look into her own life and struggles.

Life-Based Education (TeachEnEspanol): I love reading her reflections on her life in the classroom!

Anne-Marie with a Dash: a French teacher in Canada who blogs about things other than school (What? You mean teachers can have a life outside the classroom?!?)

And now that I have completed the steps for accepting this award, I'd love to see an "About me" list of ten random things about you! Post your list (or link to your blog post) in the comments section if you'd like to play along :).

Community

Back in 2006 (!) when I first started this blogging thing, it was mainly a way to stay connected with my family members who were scattered across the globe. It was also therapy for me to write about what goes on in my classroom (and it still is!)

But in the last year or two, I've discovered a whole network of teachers/students/parents out there who I've been able to relate to and connect with. And I've so enjoyed being a part of this larger community!

I've recently joined both the SITS girls and the Blog Frog communities, and am now officially addicted to the internet!!

Below are some links to some pretty typical posts. If you're new here, feel free to peruse. If you've been a long time follower (hi mom!), enjoy the walk down memory lane...

I blog about what it's really like to teach.

I blog about teaching children with hearing loss.

I blog about funny things my students say.

I blog about educational issues in today's society.

I blog about fun things I do in the classroom.

Oh yeah, and how could I forget about my dog and my cats?

What do you blog about?

Whining is inappropriate for #500

Wow. So this is my 500th post. Five hundred! That's a lot of pressure to come up with something fantastic to say on this momentous occasion. I really don't have anything extra special to say.

But do you know what was extra special about my day?

1. My one fourth grader took his meds this morning so class wasn't a train wreck! YAY!!!!!
2. I had a very important administrator drop by to observe me and my class this morning (unannounced). And I happened to be in the middle of a lesson that was semi-good and interactive; and due to number 1, I actually felt like I was in control of things!
3. I won two different online giveaways today: one for a piece of jewelry of my choice, and the other one was a gift card to "Ecostore" (green, non/toxic products for the body and home). So yay me!!
4. My wonderful husband is making dinner for us right now... yummm: stuffed peppers!

Hope all of you out there have had a good day too!

My Acceptance Speech

When I started this blog in 2006, it was just a fun way to keep in touch with my family. My other purpose was to chronicle my adventures as a young teacher so that when I am old and gray I can remember what it was to be a twenty-something educator. And whaddayaknow? I discovered a whole cyber-world of other teachers out there who needed a place to vent, ramble, and reflect. Thank you, roller coaster teacher, for passing along this award to me!

I will spread the love by sharing the award with the following bloggers that I have come to admire and who I enjoy reading:

Miss Teacha at Confessions from the couch

The teacher and mother at Where's the sun?

The very positive high school teacher at Cal Teacher Blog

Mark Pullen (who makes me think) at The Elementary Educator